Conveyor for cigarettes or the like



Dec. 1, 1970 B HE|TMANN ETAL CONVEYOR FOR CIGARETTES OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 17, 1968 mm( wm.

THE/f? ATTORNEY United States Patent 67 Int. Cl. G01m 3/02 U.S. Cl. 73-41 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A conveyor including a rotary drum which transports cigarettes or like rod-shaped articles sideways past a testing station where the articles are tested by air or another suitable gas which is admitted into one or both ends of articles. The articles are accommodated in flutes which extend in parallelism with the axis of the drum and one end of each article can be moved into abutment with a ange which rotates with the drum. The latter also supports nozzles which convey testing fluid and are movable axially of the drum toward and away from the other end of each article. The nozzles are biased by springs which cause them to move the articles into abutment with the ange. Shifting forks are controlled by a stationary cam and serve to disengage the nozzles from the respective articles during travel past an ejecting station where the defective articles are expelled from their flutes by compressed air, and thereupon past a transfer station Where the satisfactory articles are removed for delivery to a stacking, packing or other processing machine.

The springs compensate for eventual differences in the length of articles in that they bias the nozzles against the articles and cause each article to move axially into abutment with the flange. Testing air pas-ses through the nozzles and through bores provided in the flange. The characteristics of such air are examined to determine the condition of articles. Signals produced in response to detection of a defective article are used to expel such article at the ejecting station.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The conveyor of the present invention is identical with the conveyor in the apparat-us which is disclosed in our copending application Ser. No. 698,522 filed Ian. 17, 1968 and assigned to the same assignee.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to conveyors for cigarettes or like rod-shaped articles wherein an open-ended tubular wrapper surrounds a permeable filler of tobacco and/or filter material. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in conveyors which can be utilized' to transport rod-shaped articles seriatim past one or more testing stations where the components of articles are tested for the presence or absence of defects, for example, for the presence of leaks in their wrappers, for the presence of defective seams between the overlapping edges of wrappers, for the absence of fillers and/ or other defects. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in conveyors which can be utilized to transport cigarettes or similar rod-shaped articles sideways past a station where the articles are tested by air which is admitted at one end and issues at the other end of a satisfactory wrapper.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of our invention to provide a conveyor which can properly transport and hold articles of slightly 3,543,564 Patented Dec. l, 1970 different length and which can automatically compensate for eventual differences in the length of articles.

Another object of the invention is to provide a conveyor of the just outlined character wherein the ends of articles can be coupled to and retained on a travelling support in a novel and improved way so as to prevent misalignment of articles during travel past a testing station.

A further object of the invention is to provide the conveyor with a coupling or clamping assembly which prevents uncontrolled escape of testing fluid from satisfactory articles or uncontrolled penetration of outside air into satisfactory articles.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a conveyor ywherein the articles are properly and securely clamped regardless of slight deviations from an optimum length and without the danger of deforming and/ or damaging the wrappers and/or fillers of such articles.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a conveyor which can be used in combination with available testing apparatus and occupies little room in a cigarette machine, filter machine, filter cigarette machine or an analogous producer of rod-shaped articles which must be tested prior to transfer into storage or to another destination.

The improved conveyor is particularly suited for transportation of cigarettes or like rod-shaped articles past one or more testing stations. It comprises a support which can constitute a drum and is movable in a predetermined direction (for example, about the axis of a fixed shaft or the like), uted article holding means provided on the support and extending transversely of the direction of movement of the support to advance the articles sideways, and novel coupling means carried by the support and flanking the holding means. The coupling means includes a nozzle provided on the support at one end of each holding means and being movable with reference to the support toward and away from the one end of the respective holding means into and from engagement with one end of an article carried by such holding means, and biasing means urging the nozzles toward the respective holding means.

In accordance with another feature of our invention, the conveyor further comprises shifting means for moving the nozzles with reference to the support by way of the biasing means. 'Ille latter preferably includes prestressed helical springs operating between an external shoulder of each nozzle and a fork of the shifting means. The shifting means may further include a roller follower connected with each fork and a stationary cam adjacent to the path of movement of the nozzles and forks to control the position of successive forks in response to movement of the support.

The coupling means further includes back support means, eg., an annular flange at one axial end of a cylindrical support adjacent to the other end of each holding means. Such back support means is fixed to the support and serves to arrest the articles during movement of nozzles toward the respective holding means so that each article can be clamped between the back support means and the respective nozzle during travel along a certain portion of the path defined by the support for the articles thereon.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The improved conveyor itself, however, both as to its construction and its mode of operation, together with additional features and advantages thereof, will be best understood upon perusal of the following detailed description of a specific embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawing.

3 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The single figure is a fragmentary axial sectional view of a rotary conveyor which embodies our invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The improved conveyor 1 comprises a cylindrical support 2 (hereinafter called drum) which is rotatable about the axis of a stationary shaft 40. The drum 2 rotates with reference to a stationary annular carrier 3 which is afxed to the shaft 40 or to a frame member of the testing apparatus which embodies the conveyor 1. A cylindrical portion or cylinder 4 of the drum 2 is provided with groups of axially parallel article holding means 8 (hereinafter called holders for short) having aligned grooves or utes 9 which accommodate articles during travel toward, past and beyond a testing station. The left-hand end of the cylinder 4 is rigid with a flange 6 which constitutes a back support of a coupling assembly serving to clamp the articles 41 during travel with the holders 8. The right-hand end portion of the cylinder 4 is rigid with a ring 7 which carries a set of reciprocable nozzles 18, one for each set of holders 8 and each reciprocable with reference to the ring 7 in the longitudinal direction of the respective grooves 9. Each nozzle has a shoulder 23 which is biased by a helical spring 22 to urge the respective nozzle toward the adjoining set of holders 8. The nozzles 18 also form part of the aforementioned coupling assembly.

The iiange or back support 6 is provided with axially parallel blind bores 11 each of which registers with one set of grooves 9 and communicates with one of several radial bores 12 which extend outwardly to the smooth cylindrical peripheral surface 13 of the flange 6. A stationary shoe 14 is biased against the peripheral surface 13 of the flange 6 by suitable springs (not shown) and is provided with an elongated slot or chamber 16 which communicates with a conduit 17 for testing iluid, normally air. The length of the chamber 16 (as considered in the circumferential direction of the dange 6) determines the length of the aforementioned testing station. As the flange 6 rotates, successive bores 12 come into registry with and travel along the open side of the chamber 16 to convey testing fluid from the conduit 17 to the respective blind bores 11 or vice versa.

The ring 7 is of U-shaped cross section and comprises two ring-shaped arms 42, 43 which are axially spaced from each other. These arms extend radially beyond the nozzles 18. The nozzles 18 are reciprocable in axially parallel bores machined into the base or web 44 of the ring 7 and each thereof has an axial orifice 45 which can convey testing fluid to or from the adjoining end of the respective cigarette 41. Each nozzle 18 has a circumferential groove 19 which is located in the space between the arms 42, 43 and is straddled by a shifting fork 21 aflixed to a shifting pin 24 which is reciprocable in parallelism with the axis of the shaft 40. A prestressed helical spring 26 surrounds the shifting pin 24 between the fork 21 and arm 42 to bias the pin in a direction to the right, as viewed in the drawing, and to thereby urge a roller follower 27 against a shifting cam 28 which latter is mounted in the stationary carrier 3. The shifting pin 24 extends through a bore in the arm 43 and carries a bifurcated bearing 24a for the follower 27. The right-hand end face of the ring 7 is adjacent to a further ring 29 provided with axially parallel bores 31 each of which registers with the orifice 45 of a nozzle 18. The ring 29 rotates with the drum 2 and ring 7. A control ring or valve ring 32 is mounted in the carrier 3 and its left-hand end face carries a slide ring or washer 34. The ring 32 is biased in a direction toward the ring 29 by one or more helical springs (not shown) operating between its right-hand end face and an internal annular shoulder of the carrier 3. Thus, such springs bias the slide ring 34 against the right-hand end face of the ring 29. The rings 32, 34 have registering testing slots 36 which communicate with the interior of a conduit 37 mounted in the carrier 3 or directly in the valve ring 32. A radial pin 33 of the carrier 3 extends into an axially parallel slot 32a of the valve ring 32 to hold the latter against rotation with the ring 29 but to permit axial movements of parts 32, 34 toward and away from the ring 7. The length of the slot 36 corresponds to that of the chamber 16 in the shoe 14. The bores 31 travel seriatim past the slots 36 of rings 32, 34 when the ring 29 rotates -with the drum 2.

A synchronizing cam 38 surrounds the ring 7 and rotates therewith. This car carries a set of radially outwardly extending equidistant projections or lobes 39, one for each set of holders 8. The synchronizing cam 38 serves as a means for cooperating with a contactless initiator or signal generator to produce synchronizing impulses which are transmitted to a testing unit to determine the exact moment when a defective article is ejected from its utes 9 by blasts of compressed fluid in a manner as disclosed in our aforementioned copending application. Furthermore, the cam 38 covers the space between the arms 42, 43 of the ring 7. Still further, the right-hand portion of the cam 38 if grooved or ribbed to form with the adjoining portion of the carrier 3 a labyrinth seal 50 which prevents entry of tobacco dust or other foreign matter into the range of the shifting means including the forks 21, pins 24, springs 26, followers 27 and xed cam 28.

The operation is as follows:

Cigarettes 41 (for example lter cigarettes of double unit length each of which contains a centrally located filter mouthpiece of double unit length between two wrapped tobacco rods of unit length) are fed into successive sets of flutes 9 at a receiving station which is located upstream of the testing station (chamber 16 and slots 36) as considered in the direction in which the drum 2 r0- tates. The shifting cam 28 is congurated in such a way that, when a nozzle 18 travels past the receiving station, the corresponding spring 26 is free to expand and to push the associated pin 24 in a direction to the right, as viewed in the drawing, so that the fork 21 moves in the same direction and entrains the nozzle 18 away from the registering holders 8 to thus provide room for convenient introduction of a cigarette 41 into the flutes 9. For example, the fork 21 can shift the nozzle 18 to such an extent that the left-hand end face of the nozzle is then flush with the left-and end face of the ring 7. As the follower 27 continues to roll along the left-hand end face of the cam 28, the latter causes the pin 24 to move in a direction to the left and to displace the fork 21 so that the fork shifts the nozzle 18 by way of the spring 22 and causes its left-hand end face to bear against the adjoining end of the cigarette 41. This takes place before the cigarette 41 reaches the testing station. The left-hand end of the cigarette 41 then bears against the right-hand end face of the flange or back support 6 and overlies the open end of the associated blind bore 11. In other words, the spring 22 then causes the nozzle 18 to bear against one end and the flange 6 to bear against the other end of the cigarette 41 without, however, causing any undesirable deformation of the wrapper. The fork 21 can move further to the left; this merely causes the spring 22 to store additional energy and to produce a stronger clamping action upon the cigarette 41. The resistance of the cigarette to shortening in response to engagement with the left-hand end face of the nozzle 18 is greater than the bias of the spring 22 so that the wrapper of the cigarette remains intact. The bias of the spring 22 determines the magnitude of the clamping force. The main purpose of the spring 22 is to compensate for eventual minor diierences in the length of cigarettes 41 and to thus insure that each end of the cigarette is in proper sealing engagement with the adjoining part of the clamping assembly (i.e., with the flange 6 and nozzle 18).

During travel past the testing station, the ller and wrapper of the cigarette 41 are tested by fluid which is admitted via conduit 17 or 37 and flows through the chamber 16, bores 12, 11, the filler, orifice 45, bore 31, and slots 36, or vice versa. If the wrapper has a leak, the pressure of testing air drops and the aforementioned testing unit detects such drop in pressure in a manner as disclosed in our copending application to produce a signal which is utilized to eject the defective cigarette from its flutes 9 by one or more blasts of compressed air which is admitted into radial orifices (not shown) machined into the cylinder 4. The exact moment of ejection of a defective cigarette is determined by the synchronizing cam 38 whose lobes 39 cooperate with the aforementioned signal generator to produce a succession of signals which are transmitted to the testing unit. When the latter receives a signal from the signal generator and produces a signal which is indicative of a defective cigarette, the ejecting device is energized to eject the defective cigarette at an ejecting station located downstream of the testing station. The configuration of the cam 28 is such that it allows the springs 26 to move the nozzles 18 in a direction to the right to release the cigarettes 41 during travel past the ejecting station so that relatively weak blasts of air suffice to dislodge defective cigarettes from their flutes 9. Satisfactory cigarettes can be held by suction and preferably advance past the ejecting station to be transferred onto a further conveyor for delivery to storage or to another processing device.

The manner in which the cigarettes can be held mechanically and/ or by suction during travel with the drum 2 is fully disclosed in our aforementioned copending application.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features which fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic and specific aspects of our contribution to the art.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

1. A conveyor, particularly for transporting cigarettes or like rod-shaped articles past a testing station, comprising a support movable in a predetermined direction; a plurality of article holding means provided on said support and extending transversely of said direction to move a succession of articles sideways; coupling means including a nozzle mounted on said support at one end of each holding means for movement toward and away from the respective holding means, each nozzle comprising a first portion having an article-engaging surface, a second portion, and deformable motion transmitting means between said portions; and shifting means for moving said second portions toward the respective holding means whereby said motion transmitting means undergo deformation when said lfirst portions engage articles in the respective holding means while the corresponding second portions continue to move toward such holding means, said shifting means comprising cam means and a plurality of follower means each bearing against said cam means and each rigid with one of said second portions.

2. A conveyor as defined in claim 1, wherein said coupling means further includes back support means adjacent to the other ends of said holding means and carried by said support to arrest the articles during movement of said nozzles toward the respective holding means.

3. A conveyor as defined in claim 1, wherein said support comprises a cylinder and said holding means are provided on the periphery of and extend in parallelism with the axis of said cylinder.

4. A conveyor as defined in claim 3, further comprising a ring rotatable with and located at one end of said cylinder, the first portions of said nozzles being reciprocable in bores provided in said ring.

5. A conveyor as defined in claim 4, wherein said coupling means further comprises an annular ange adjacent to the other end of said cylinder and rotatable therewith, said flange providing a back support for articles in said holding means in response to displacement of a nozzle toward the one end of the associated holding means 6. A conveyor as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said holding means defines at least one groove for articles.

7. A conveyor as defined in claim 1, wherein the first portions of said nozzles are provided with axial orifices arranged to convey testing iiuid to or from the adjoining ends of articles during travel along a predetermined portion of the path defined by said support.

8. A conveyor as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said motion transmitting means comprises a spring.

9. A conveyor as defined in claim 1, wherein said shifting means comprises cam means and a plurality of follower means each bearing against said cam means and each operatively connected with one of said nozzles.

10. A conveyor, particularly for transporting cigarettes or like rod-shaped articles past a testing station, comprising a support including a cylinder rotatable in a predetermined direction; a plurality of article holding means provided on the periphery of and extending in parallelism with the axis of said cylinder to move a succession of articles sideways; coupling means carried by said support and fianking said holding means, said coupling means including a nozzle provided at one end of each holding means and movable with reference to said support toward and away from said one end of the respective holding means into and from engagement with one end of an article in such holding means, and biasing means for urging said nozzles toward the respective holding means; and shifting means for moving said nozzles with reference to said cylinder by way of said biasing means, said shifting means comprising a stationary cam adjacent to one end of said cylinder and to said nozzles, followers arranged to track said cam, pins reciprocable in parallelism with the axis of and rotatable with said cylinder, springs for biasing said followers against said cam, and forks provided on said pins and straddling portions of said nozzles, said biasing means comprising springs operating between said forks and the respective nozzles.

11. A conveyor as defined in claim 10, further comprising a ring rotatable with said cylinder and supporting said pins and said nozzles.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,755,661 7/ 1956 Lorant et al, 73-495 3,023,608 3/ 1962 McConnell 73-49.6 3,377,843 4/ 1968 Rudszinat 73-45.2 3,386,281 6/1968 Menge et al. 73-41 3,408,858 11/1968 Kaeding et al 7345.2

LOUIS R. PRINCE, Primary Examiner W. A. HENRY II, Assistant Examiner 

